Video: Henry, Josh, DOMA, and what Janet Napolitano can do about it

April 19, 2011

Filed under: DOMA trials

16 Comments Leave a Comment

  • 1. Gregory in Salt Lake  |  April 18, 2011 at 11:08 pm

    The inability to sponsor your spouse is so oppressive…permeates every aspect of life. I admire and appreciate Josh and Henry sharing their story and plight.

  • 2. Sagesse  |  April 18, 2011 at 11:08 pm

    Off to work. Reading later.

  • 3. Kathleen  |  April 18, 2011 at 11:34 pm

    √

  • 4. Franck  |  April 19, 2011 at 12:00 am

    *sigh* Truth be told, the way this issue cannot seem to be solved fast enough is getting me close to giving up. I only have one solution left this year: the DV lottery. If that one fails again (it'll be the fourth time), I'll stop considering immigrating to the United States and start looking at solutions elsewhere for C. and I instead. With enough preparation, we could even take the risk of having him live here. After all, being together in a politically troubled country is always better than being separated for years as we've been.

    I don't want to wait several years more for a glimpse of hope. Almost 4 years of "No you can't" have already been more than enough to severely wreck my morale and will to fight.

    – Franck P. Rabeson
    Days spent apart from my fiancé because of DOMA: 1397 days, as of today.

  • 5. Gregory in Salt Lake  |  April 19, 2011 at 12:15 am

    Moment of silence for 1397 days : (

  • 6. JonT  |  April 19, 2011 at 12:49 am

    ☮

  • 7. Mike  |  April 19, 2011 at 1:21 am

    I just return from 10 days with my partner.
    Of those 10 days, the first one was a very emotional reunion with tears of joy & the last day, a very emotional goodbye with tears of pain. The other 8 days, were lived to its fullest, making every second count.

    We have been together for over 6 years, of which the first 4 – we lived together in a third country. Due to loss of employment, I had to return to the US, and he found a job in another country…. a couple of nomads. Two years of physical separation, except for a week here and there of "conjugal visits" – and daily text messages and weekend Skype video-chats. I wonder how many hetero couples would be willing to go thru this much pain

    I was hoping that the Obama administration would have been more sympathetic to the cause of binational L & G couples. …Why not grant Humanitarian Visas ?

    If anyone has Napolitano's e-mail : post it.
    Maybe she will benefit from hearing from the 50,000 couples trapped in this Hell-on-Earth.

  • 8. Ronnie  |  April 19, 2011 at 1:45 am

    Signed…..<3…Ronnie

  • 9. Dave in Maine  |  April 19, 2011 at 1:47 am

    Off Topic…

    The Portland Press Herald published a story about a documentary made during the Question 1 campaign here in Maine in 2009. It is very eye-opening and shows the lies that we all knew that were being told. The YES people are shown to admit it. It's good to see it, but frustrating nonetheless…
    http://www.pressherald.com/news/documentary-clips…

    Dave in Maine

  • 10. Alan E.  |  April 19, 2011 at 1:56 am

    Subscribing for later

  • 11. Gregory in Salt Lake  |  April 19, 2011 at 2:06 am

    Thank you for sharing your story Mike. Me and my hubby trying to avoid such a scenario for 3 years. Living with the constant threat of separation and only one partner able to work has its own form of challenges…

    I appreciate yours and Franck's post today remind me to not take any moment for granted…to be grateful we are together despite difficulties…

  • 12. Ann S.  |  April 19, 2011 at 2:24 am

    §

  • 13. Rhie  |  April 19, 2011 at 11:59 am

    Watcin

  • 14. Rick  |  April 20, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    To begin, I'm in a bi-national with a German, and am luck enough to see him every 6 weeks for two week or so.

    I really have a problem with this couple – Henry overstayed his visa, and is now asking for forgiveness. In short, when he decided to overstay, he knowingly broke the law and is now in removal proceedings.

    I fail to have sympathy for someone who knowingly decided to ignore the US law. Is this really the best foot the gay community has to show for same sex bi-national couples, law breaking, exotic dancers?

  • 15. Ronnie  |  April 20, 2011 at 10:44 pm

    Ummmmmm ….. : / ….Ronnie

  • 16. Watch: Couple about to be&hellip  |  April 30, 2011 at 9:49 am

    [...] week, I wrote about Courage Campaign’s and AllOut’s emergency petition to save Henry Velandia and Josh [...]

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